Clock



April 0, 19 3- R, H. WHITEHEAD 2,317,322

CLOCK Filed March 9, 1940 INVENTOR Mae M0 Amara/m0 ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 20, 1943 CLOCK Richard H. Whitehead, New Haven, Conn, as-

signor to The New Haven Clock Company, New Haven, 001111., a corporation of Connecticut Application March 9, 1940, Serial No. 323,068

1 Claim.

This invention relates to a new and improved clock construction.

It is'an object of this invention to provide a new and improved construction which will facilitate the assembly of clocks reducing the cost of manufacture whil at the same time affording a rigid and reliable mechanism.

It is customary in the manufacture of clocks, particularly those having a metallic case, to provide a clock train which drives its central shaft at the rate of one revolution per hour, this train being contained between two supporting plates. The hour shaft is customarily hollow and fits over the central or minute shaft and is driven by a separate gear reduction carried outside of the front supporting plate and between that plate and the face. The face or dial is ordinarily sup ported from the front face of the clock movement by spacers or fingers, the face itself carrying the hour wheel shaft and gear and the hour wheel. With this construction the face in effect forms a third supporting plate supported in spaced relation to the front plate.

In accordance with this invention the dial or face of the clock is not supported from the front plate but is carried solely from the casing of the clock and this dial so supported from the casing carries the hour shaft and has no direct connection with the clock train except that the hour shaft gear meshes with the reduction gear pinion on the front supporting plate.

The invention accordingly comprises an article of manufacture possessing the features, properties and the relation of elements which will be exemplified in the article hereinafter described and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the claim.

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be had to the following detailed description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. l is a front elevation of a clock embodying this invention, parts being broken away.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation partly broken away.

In the drawing the numeral I represents, generally, a clock movement having a spring I I adapted to be wound by a key 12. This movement is constructed and arranged to drive a central shaft l3, by suitable gears not shown in the drawing but represented diagrammatically by the gear I4, in the customary manner. The numeral I5 represents the front plate of the movement from which the face is ordinary supported but,

in accordance with this invention, having no direct connection with the face.

The movement is carried in a case 28 which, as shown, is cup shaped having a cylindrical wall 2| and the movement is held within the case by screws 22 and nuts 23.

The cylindrical wall 2| of the case is provided with a cylindricaltransverse flange which, as shown, may conveniently take the form of an inwardly extending bead 24. Th numeral 25 represents the face of the clock which fits relatively tightly within the cylindrical wall 2| and rests against the bead 24.

An hour shaft 26 is hollow and fits over and journals upon the central shaft l3 and this hollow shaft carries the hour hand 21 on the outside of the face and a gear 28 on the inside of the face, which latter gear is connected in the usual manner to drive the shaft 26 at the rate of one revolution each twelve hours. The minute hand 29 fits on the end of the shaft |3 in front of the hour hand.

By reason of the fact that the hour hand shaft has the hour hand upon one side of the face and the gear 28 upon the inside of the face the hour hand is, in fact, carried by the dial during the assembly of the clock, until the hour shaft fits upon its journal upon the main arbor.

The outer side of the case is closed by a glass 30 held by a bezel 3|. This bezel has a front flat portion 32 fitting against the outside of the glass and a cylindrical extension 33 constructed and arranged to fit tightly within the outer end of the cylindrical wall 2| of the case 20. As shown, the cylindrical extension 33 has an outwardly extending flange 33a around which the outer edge 32a of the flat portion is crimped. This forms a convenient method of assembly of the bezel ring and affords a flat shoulder or flange 34 which may press against th front edge face of the cylindrical wall 2| of the case.

An inner ring has a flat annular portion 35 adapted to fit against the inner surface of the glass and a conical portion or wall 36 extending inwardly and downwardly against the outer side of the dial or face 25. The cylindrical wall 33 of the bezel may be provided with outwardly extending projections 37 to insure the tight fitting of the bezel within the case.

With this construction it will be clear that the assembly of the clock is very simple. The movement itself may first be put in the case without a dial or hands and fastened into place by the nuts 23. Thereafter the dial 25 may be put in place against the bead 24 and this carries with it the hour hand shaft and hour hand gear, for, as has been described, the hour hand shaft together with the hour hand and its gear are, during this assembling operation, carried by the face itself and the gear is brought into mesh with its driving gear as the face is put in place. The minute hand itself is then forced upon the end of the main arbor, holding the hour hand shaft upon its arbor. When the device has been assembled this far it will be clear that the face is completely loose upon the movement except insofar as it is restrained from falling off by the minute hand. The next step in the assembly is to assemble the glass, the bezel ring and the inner ring and fit them into the outside end of the cylindrical wall 2| and force them into place. This automatically holds all of the elements in their assembled position. The face is held firmly in place between the bead 24 and the ring 35 and the glass is held in place between the ring 35 and the fiat portion 32 of the bezel.

For the purpose of securing proper registry between the face and the case and for preventing rotation of the face within the case there is preferably provided upon the face an outwardly extending lug 38 fitting within a recess 39 in the case.

Since certain changes maybe made in the above construction and different embodiments of the invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claim is intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

Having described my invention, What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

A clock of the character described, including a casing having an open end, a gear train mounted within and fastened to said casing having a plate to carry the pivots of the gears of said gear train, an hour hand drive gear on said gear train situated on the side of said plate toward the open face of said casing, said casing having a circumferential flange, a face adapted to fit within said casing and against said flange free from support by said gear train, said gear train having a central main arbor, a hollow hour shaft constructed and arranged to fit over said main arbor and having an hour drive gear on th inner side of said face and an hour hand on the outer side of said face, the former being positioned to engage said hour hand drive gear when said hour shaft and face are inserted over said main arbor, a bezel car-rying a glass for closing the open end of said casing and frictionally fitting within the open end of said casing, and means for engaging the periphery of the outer side of said face in response to pressure exerted by the insertion of said bezel in said casing, to hold said face against said flange.

RICHARD H. WHITEHEAD. 

